Legendary Japanese director Akio Jissoji's quite literally ground-breaking, brain-boggling 'Teito Monogatari' aka 'Tokyo - The Last Megalopolis' is a breathtakingly imaginative Japanese Sci-fi fantasy epic about the ancient malevolent spirit of Taira No Masakado, a truly terrible, awesomely powerful spirit fitfully interred beneath an ever-expanding Tokyo, this vile despotic entity damned for heinous crimes against humanity, its alien slumbering being dangerously disturbed by no less maniacal demon psychic Yasunori Kato (Kyusako Shimada), whose unspeakably malign plan to rouse this monstrous being, and desolate Tokyo can only be thwarted by benign magic of beautiful metaphysical warrior Tatsumiya Keiko (Mieko Harada).
Seamlessly incorporating a dazzling array of special effects, featuring especially dextrous hand puppetry, vivid animatronic illusions, sublime stop-motion animation, and some striking, idiosyncratic designs by H. R Giger! And the committed, rousingly grandiose performances by a talented cast add considerable lustre to the story's thrilling vibrancy. Akio Jissoji's bravura, big budget, delightfully imaginative, Bava-esque Sci-fantasy has lost none of its elemental power to enthral, defy expectations, and exhilaratingly transport the ceaselessly agog viewer into maestro Akio Jissoji's surrealistically scintillating, weirdly immersive crypto-history of the eerily fascinating, supernaturally shattered, and triumphant resurrection of this mythical Tokyo metropolis! A tremendously worthy success on its initial release, the spectacular 'Teito Monogatari' spawned two sequels!
Rabid film fact fans may like to know that visionary director Akio Jissoji also masterminded the successful resurrection of popular hyper-kinetic superhero 'Ultra Man' in his dynamic 'The Return of Ultraman' TV series (71-74)!
Seamlessly incorporating a dazzling array of special effects, featuring especially dextrous hand puppetry, vivid animatronic illusions, sublime stop-motion animation, and some striking, idiosyncratic designs by H. R Giger! And the committed, rousingly grandiose performances by a talented cast add considerable lustre to the story's thrilling vibrancy. Akio Jissoji's bravura, big budget, delightfully imaginative, Bava-esque Sci-fantasy has lost none of its elemental power to enthral, defy expectations, and exhilaratingly transport the ceaselessly agog viewer into maestro Akio Jissoji's surrealistically scintillating, weirdly immersive crypto-history of the eerily fascinating, supernaturally shattered, and triumphant resurrection of this mythical Tokyo metropolis! A tremendously worthy success on its initial release, the spectacular 'Teito Monogatari' spawned two sequels!
Rabid film fact fans may like to know that visionary director Akio Jissoji also masterminded the successful resurrection of popular hyper-kinetic superhero 'Ultra Man' in his dynamic 'The Return of Ultraman' TV series (71-74)!